If you are a B2B marketer trying to win small business buyers, how do you cut through the clutter of other marketing mediums and messages? It turns out, small business buyers demand reviews – third party voices that reduces their risk.
A September 2014 study by The Alternative Board reports nearly half of small businesses worldwide said that when making a major purchasing decision about a new product or service, other business owners using the product or service were the most helpful human … [Read more...]

When Jerry Seinfeld built his classic episode around the Bubble Boy, he created a picture of a foul-tempered kid locked away inside a plastic environment. While some, including his parents, wanted him to interact with people, his time with George and Jerry proved he was better left alone. I mention this, because recent data appears to show that many an online user is a technology bubble boy. Maybe with the same temperament issues.
Tad Williams has published research that shows online users … [Read more...]

If you consumed any media in the last week, you noticed the overwhelming barrage of political ads. Many of the campaigns set records for spending, and experts estimate that over $4B was spent in this year’s midterms. TV and radio stations loved the burst of income, even if it made their platforms intolerable. Social media and other forms of narrowcasting were also effected. But now comes a new report that targeting voters far outstrips the message.
Alex Lundry, co-founder of Deep Root … [Read more...]

Every day, Facebook processes over 350M photographs, far more than any analog film company ever had to process in the same period of time. In fact, a recent article by Fast Company noted that of the approximately 50 startups worth more than $1B, at least 9 are built around photography. Twitter, WhatsApp, Dropbox, Pinterest, Airbnb, Snapchat, Instagram and Tumblr. So we should ask, is Facebook really a photography company?
Of course, photos may be simply the result of mobile devices adding … [Read more...]

The shot of you and your BFF at the ball game was fun. You and your kids at the company picnic. And who wouldn’t love to see all of your bicycle club at the finish of the Century Race? While seemingly harmless, each of these photos is likely building the database on you, as data mining selfies has now become a lucrative marketing effort.
A new group of digital marketing companies have built technology to scan and process your photos for insights that can better target advertisers to you and … [Read more...]

What are you building your B2B content around in 2014? For maximum effectiveness, your goal should be the inclusion of key insights, or so reports Corporate Visions. Its recent report shows that B2B marketing now demands insights - over 80% of all B2B content uses context-based facts.
According to its data, there are 4 types of insights: Anecdotal – those that reinforce key messages around best practices, lessons learned and new operating frameworks based on work in the field; Visionary – … [Read more...]